Abstract: An automotive seat assembly for accommodating rear passengers in a passenger compartment. The seat assembly includes a base that may be secured to the vehicle floor structure and an articulated seat frame that supports a lower seat portion, a back portion of the seat assembly being foldable forward. The articulated frame includes forward and rearward legs, one leg being biased by a spring toward a normal passenger supporting position and the other leg being biased by a spring towards a folded position of the seat assembly. The spring force acting on one leg acts on a variable moment arm so that the force moment created by the spring force on the other leg is opposed, the seat assembly assuming a folded position as an over center position of the forward arm is reached, the variable moment arm of the spring force acting on the one arm maintaining the legs in a normal upright position when the seat assembly is in use.

Abstract: An auxiliary seat assembly for a passenger vehicle has a seat back portion pivoted at a rearward margin of a lower seat portion. A frame for the lower seat portion is supported on a base by a parallelogram linkage riser. A seat back panel for the seat back portion is supported by a parallelogram linkage secured to a seat back frame. Pivotal motion of the seat back portion to a forward, folded position is accompanied by forward movement of the lower seat portion. The riser and the seat back portion frame linkage are lowered as the seat back portion is folded forward, thereby reducing the overall stacked height of the folded seat assembly.